Turn with me to the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 1. I preached this message last
night, so it's fresh on my mind. I want
to read for you the first several verses here of Genesis chapter
1. In the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the water. And God said, Let
there be light, and there was light. And God saw the light,
that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.
And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day. And God said,
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let
it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament
and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And
God called the firmament heaven, and the evening and the morning
were the second day. And God said, Let the waters
under the heaven be gathered unto one place, and let the dry
land appear. And it was so. And God called
the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called
he seas. And God saw that it was good,
and God said, Let the earth bring forth grass. And the herb yielding
seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed
is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth
brought forth grass, and the herb yielding seed after his
kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself after
his kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning
were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights
in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night,
and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and
years. And let them be for lights in
the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and
it was so. And God made two great lights,
the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule
the night. He made the stars also, and God
set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon
the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to
divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good,
and the evening and the morning were the fourth day." At our church, we have been on
Tuesday evenings going through the book of Genesis. And I began
a series of messages on him here a while back. And I begin our
study in the book of Genesis with this thought. The first
message I preached was a beginning before the beginning. When he
says, in the beginning God created, this is not the beginning of
all things. It's the beginning of the manifestation
of what took place in the beginning. In order to understand something
about the beginning, you go back to John 1, where he says there
that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was one with God. It was there
that the purpose of God was determined, and that God set His counsels
and decrees and grew up the everlasting covenant of grace. And God purposed
to manifest his glory through the redemption of chosen sinners
through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he began and
he created. Without him was not anything
made that was made. The Son of God created this earth. And it says in Colossians 1 that
he not only created this world, he not only made this world,
But the world was made by him and for him. And so when I view
creation now in Genesis chapter 1, I look at it through the eyes
of the glory of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I
see there figures and pictures of God's redemptive work. And
I believe that everything I believe this book declares. that everything
that was created, I don't care what it is, in some way, form,
or fashion, has something to do with that redemptive glory
of God in Christ. And so whether you're just looking
at, like we're going to look at here this morning, just these
general things that he created, or if you're looking at a butterfly,
I don't care what it is you're looking at, in some way that
thing pictures that redemptive glory of Christ. And I'm convinced
that believers in eternity are going to see these things. I
believe that's what eternity is going to be all about. I think
we're going to gather together up there just the way we're gathered
here in this living room today. And we're going to look at each
other, and we're going to talk to each other about these things.
Because in that day, we're going to know as we are known. We're
going to know the details. And we're going to be able to
look out and see. Now, do you remember that? Oh, look at this. Look at this. Look at the wonder
of this. Look at the beauty and the majesty of this. And so I
told the folks over there that there was a beginning before
the beginning whereby an everlasting covenant of grace was declared.
And He chose a people. I don't know how many times.
I've never taken time to count them. But in the Scriptures where
He uses this phrase, before the foundation, of the world. In Ephesians chapter 1, verses
3 through 6, the Apostle tells us that the Church that God blessed
in the beginning, he blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundations of the world. Before the foundations
of the world. predestinated them unto the adoption
of children according to the good pleasure of his will. In
John chapter 17 in his High Priestly Prayer, we were talking about
that last night, and he talks about how the Father loved you
as he loved him. Boy, you talk about something
to think about. Think about that. God loved you like he loved his
Son, with an everlasting love. Everlasting. Unbroken. Never
interrupted. Never turned aside. He loved
you. I don't care what it is you consider.
We're going to consider the creation this morning. And if you go back
in creation, you're going to find out that he created this
world because he loved you. And no matter what the question
is, no matter what the wonder it is that we sit and wonder
at and worship God because of and our hearts are stirred, we
look at it and if you go far enough back, here it is, this
ocean of love. It's the love of God. For God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. In Hebrews
4, Paul exhorts us to faith in Christ, not to follow after that
same example of unbelief of Israel. who died in unbelief in the wilderness. And he says, they heard the same
gospel you did. But it was not mixed in faith
with them that heard it. It wasn't mixed in faith. Now
listen to this in Hebrews 4, verse 3. For we which have believed
do enter into rest, and everybody else, he swore, the same as he
swore to those children who would not go into Canaan. By my name,
he said, they shall not enter into this rest. They are not
going in. They are not going in because of their unbelief.
But listen to this statement that he makes after this. Although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world,
demonstrated in time, proven in time, set forth in evidence
in time, but established before the foundation of the world.
Then over in 1 Peter 1, he reminds us that we are not redeemed with
corruptible things like silver and gold, things that we received
and were taught by our vain traditions, but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. Christ is the beginning before
the beginning. And in Colossians chapter 1,
it identifies Him, beginning in verse 15, as the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Every creature. I don't care how big, how small.
I don't care if you're talking about minerals or plants. or fruit trees, or animals, or
birds, or man. I don't care what he is. He is
the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dimensions, principalities or powers. All
things were created by him and for him. And he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. He is preeminent in
revelation, he is preeminent in creation, and he is preeminent
in providence. And all to fulfill this office
as head of the church, he said, who is the beginning. In order
to be the head of the church, in order to represent that body
of believers, in order to stand and manifest the glory of God,
God gives to him all preeminence who is the beginning. the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence
for it pleased the Father, that in him should all fullness dwell."
So I don't care what it is I'm looking at in this book, the
biggest discovery in your life will be if God is pleased to
allow you to discover that this is a hymn book, H-I-M. Everything written in this book,
if you take it and view it through those glasses, of the gospel
of God's everlasting glory in Christ. Oh, how it will come
alive. How it will stir your heart to
worship. It pleased the Father. I don't have to worry about spiritualizing
scriptures. It pleased the Father that in
him should all fullness dwell. And so then creation becomes
the stage upon which he will manifest that redemptive glory.
And first in the order of this is light. He said, let there
be light. Now, he didn't create light. This light was always,
this light was in Christ. John says in John 1, in him was
life, and this life was the light of men. The light has always
been. The light is eternal light. But
he commanded that the light shine. And light is essential to God's
purpose in Christ because apart from the light, his glory sits
in darkness. Why is it in darkness? Why in
the world? What's he talking about there
in Genesis chapter 1? And I told my folks this. It's
obvious to me now, looking through the glasses of the gospel back
at creation, that something happened between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis
1-2. And that something was that Satan
was cast out from the presence of God. And he tries to cover
up, to shroud in darkness that glory of Christ. that glory because
God is going to redeem a man and not an angel. Now, angels,
just stay with me here for a minute, we are told in Hebrews at the
very beginning of the book that angels are sent forth to minister
to those who shall be heirs of salvation. That is why they were
created. That is their purpose. They are
going to carry out the will of God toward those folks whom God
has purposed to redeem and manifest His glory in. And He creates
these angels. And how much He told those angels,
how much He communicated to those angels about what was going to
happen is not clear in the Scriptures. Now, stay with me. So here are
these angels, and God instructs them, at least in general, about
what they are going to do. And that one day a man, not an
angel, but a man, is going to sit at the right hand of God.
And Satan could take no more. He said, I'll sit in the seat
of the congregation. I will. The sun of the morning.
I will. Look at me. Look at my beauty.
Look at my person. Look at my glory. A man is not
going to sit there. A fallen man who sinned and corrupted
everything about God. No, no, no. I'm going to sit
there. I'm going to sit there." And he never got to actually
do anything. All he did was set it in his
heart. He was gone. He was gone and cast out into
the earth. And it's been his purpose from
that day to this. You can go through the Scriptures.
If we had time this morning, I could take you through the
Scriptures and I could show you that that's his purpose. Whenever
the sons of God come, like in the book of Job, to present themselves
before God, Satan comes with them. And his intention is to
darken and shroud that beauty of Christ in that person of the
God-man. He's going to shroud that light
with his darkness. That's what it's all about. And
God created the heaven and the earth, and he said, and darkness
was upon the face of the deep. But I want you to notice this,
and I pointed this out to my folks, and I don't know if you've
ever even seen it before or not. But the deep had a face. And the waters had a face. And
Satan couldn't destroy that face. And there's only one face that
God has ever manifested, and that is the face, His glory in
the face of Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's what Paul likened
the Gospel to. The God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our heart to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. He said, now that's salvation.
That's salvation. And here's that face shrouded
in the darkness of Satan. It's shrouded and it's just reflected,
but it's still there. He didn't destroy it. It's still
there. And it's shrouded in God. The first order of business for
God is to create light. And in that light, that reflection
of Christ is seen on the face of those waters. And then on the second day, God
commands an environment, a firmament. That's the environment that you
look at. And in this environment, by which
all heavenly graces of that light are going to be enjoyed by men.
Now, just think about it. Go outside this atmosphere, and
sound cannot be communicated. You can't hear anything, you
can't say anything. You can move your lips, but nothing
happens. Don't go anywhere. When they
go into outer space, they have to use microphones that go from
one thing to the next. It just won't, in this environment,
is what scientists, I'm just going by what they say, is the
only place in the universe as far as I know where sound can
be communicated openly. I can open my mouth and you can
hear what I'm saying. Why would God do that? Because
it's His purpose of grace to communicate His glory through
preaching. That's why. That's why. He's
going to make known this glory. And so He creates an environment,
and in this environment sound can be transmitted. Think about
the light that comes down and it hits our environment. It would
burn us to a cinder. Those rays of the sun would burn
us to a cinder. But this environment refracts
the light. What that means is it softens
it. And so the light doesn't burn you up, but it comes in
and it just warms you. And it causes life to grow, and
it causes things to happen. David, when he was talking about
the heavens declared the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
his handiwork. He said day unto day uttereth
speech, didn't he? Night unto night showeth knowledge.
And he said that sun comes like a bridegroom out of its chamber,
and it comes up, and nothing is hid from its heat. It comes
up and it warms everything it intended to warm. It is going
to warm. And he said his circuit is from the east to the west,
never ending. This environment. And the environment,
it provides a way for God's light to be received and for us to
benefit. And then think about this. It
prisms the light. Have you ever noticed the pictures
they take in outer space? Everything is black. It's black
and white, isn't it? You look up there and you can
see the stars and you can see this and that, but all you see
is black. There's nothing up there. But
you turn around and they take a picture of the earth and here's
this big blue ball with colors and all this, because the light
prisms when it hits the environment. And it divides the light so that
you can see the glory of it in detail. You begin to see the
glory of the light. You begin to see the glory of
God and His grace in redemption and in justification and in reconciliation
and in His representative offices as your priest and your king.
And He divides that light. And this environment I see as
the free and sovereign grace of God by which all the Father
of lights, when He gives those gifts, isn't that what James
called it? Every good gift and every perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights. with whom is no bearableness,
neither shadow of turning. These gifts come down, and they
come through the light. That's how you get them. You're
not going to get them apart from the light. You're not going to
receive them. You're not going to be able to
see them. But this light prisms. It prisms that light, and it
allows us to enjoy the glory of it and rejoice in it. Now listen to this. This is a
picture of God's sovereign grace in Christ. whereby all these
good and perfect gifts can be enjoyed and come down to men.
And having now light for revelation and a way by which the light
can yield its precious gifts, the revelation begins to be manifested. He turns on that light. He creates
an environment. And you look out there through
the eyes of the gospel and here is a never-ending sea. It is
a never-ending sea. And this sea represents God is
absolute God, encompassing all things, engulfing all things. No way you can see across it. No way you can see the width
of it. No way you can plumb the depth of it. David said it's
deeper than hell. Or in Job, he said it's deeper
than hell. What can you know? It's higher than heaven. What
can you do? This ocean is represented. And
you go through the Psalms and you'll just see it over and over
and over how he talks about the seas and the waves and the billows
and all these things representing God. David said, His billows
rolled over me. Over me. And I think it's in
Psalm 104. I can't quote it to you exactly,
but he said, Those that go down to the sea in ships, and do business
in great waters, in deep waters, those are the people who discover
the wonders and the grace of God out in that huge sea. So
here is a sea. It represents God. And out of
that sea, God commands all that water, all the waters of God
to be gathered into one place. What on earth is he talking about?
Well, there's only one place where God Himself, if He's represented
by this sea, there's only one place where all that water could
be gathered, and only one reason for it to be gathered. And that
is that a body be resurrected right out of the person of God
and drawn up upon which God is going to create all things for
His glory. That's that dry land. He said
these waters were gathered into one place and dry land. He didn't create it, it appeared.
Because it had its beginning with Him. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But the Word, he said, the Word,
what? What did he say about it? You
remember down in verse 12, I think it is, or John chapter 1 or verse
14? The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. raised him out of that infinite
ocean. God spread those waters out and
raised that dry land and raised that body, a body upon which all life will
exist. I read to you a few moments ago
that the grass and the herb-bearing seed and the fruit tree that
contained its seed in itself, it says the earth brought them
forth, didn't it? Huh? The earth brought them forth.
They were put in the earth. They were put in that body. And
man, he's going to reach down and take that earth. And he's
going to create a man. Where did he come from? Out of that body. All things out
of that body. That body is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ who was made flesh and dwelt among us. It's
always the purpose of God. Always was. Always will be. That's where His glory is at.
in that body. He said, Remember the former
things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am
God, and there is none like me. I declare the end from the beginning.
Is this the beginning? That is what he said, wasn't
it? He is declaring the end from the beginning. And from ancient
times, the things that are not yet done say, My counsel shall
stand, and I do all my pleasures. And nobody is going to resist
God. Nobody is able to resist Him.
A fellow was talking to me the other day, and I was touching
on some things about eternal justification and eternal redemption
and that type of thing. And he said, well, I just don't
see how those things can be. And I said, because God determined
it and nobody can stay His hand. He said, God said He's a one-man
who can turn Him. Who is going to turn Him? Who
is going to resist Him? Paul preached a sovereign Christ.
He said in Romans 9, he said, Who art thou, O man, that reprised
against God? Shall the thing formed say unto
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? And he knew
what they were going to say. He said, well, why does he yet
find fault for who has resisted his will? Nobody has resisted his will.
Nobody can resist his will. And that's why he can eternally
justify. I'm getting ahead of myself. I wanted you to see this. If
you look out at this ocean of God, man cannot exist in God
as absolute God. He can't do it. He can't do it
because he's a man. I don't know how many times in
the book of Isaiah Listen to this. He says in Isaiah 45, 5,
There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. I form light, and I create darkness. I make peace, and I create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. He is God. There isn't anybody
else. It's just God. And when we talk
about God, like Paul did on Mars Hill to those philosophers, he
said, in Him we live and move and have our being. There's nobody
else. He's God. You look around at men and creation,
these are the works of God and these works are in God. Christ
stood before Nicodemus and He said, I that stand before you
am in the bosom of the Father. No man knoweth the Father, save
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal it." The only revelation
we have of absolute God is this body that He pulls up out of
Himself. Out of Himself. And I read that
one to you out of Isaiah. And he just goes on and on and
on throughout all those chapters, declaring to Israel that there
was none else. He said in Isaiah 40, verse 12,
"...who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and
meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of
the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and
the hills in a balance. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or been his counselor, and has taught him? To whom then
were you liking God?" He is infinite. And to communicate the person
of God, he draws up things that we can understand. He told Nicodemus
he was just standing there stuttering because he was so ignorant from
his religious traditions and things that he couldn't even
enter into what Christ was telling him. And he was just stuttering
and stammering and didn't know what to say about a new birth.
And then the Lord told him, He said, Nicodemus, if I told you
earthly things, What would you do if I told you heavenly things? You'd really be tore up. Paul
comes back down from the third heaven being taught of Christ,
and he said, I saw things which aren't even lawful to utter.
It wouldn't do me any good. And he never talked about them
after that. He never did. He never mentioned them. There
was no need to mention them. We couldn't understand them.
But God represents Himself in pictures and types and figures.
And that's what this whole thing of creation is all about. It's
that God was willing to make known. Ain't that what Paul said
in Romans chapter 9? What if God, willing to make
known his power and his wrath, endured with much longsuffering
these vessels of wrath pitted to destruction? And what if God
willing to make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy that he had aforeprepared unto glory? God was willing. To make these things known. God
willing to manifest this glory. Willing to redeem. Willing to
give life. Willing to create an environment.
Willing to create a man in his own image. Willing to allow him
to fall that he might redeem him and put him on a footing
where he cannot fall. What if God willing? And willing
to communicate such things. Give us such pictures. that we
can look at and at least communicate to us in some degree that glory
purposed in His Son. Satan coming down and shrouding
those things in darkness. And Christ's face was reduced
to a reflection on the surface of the deep, now rises up out
of the waters a great body and a place of habitation where God
and man can walk together. It's just God came down. been
and walked with man in the cool of the day. In him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him.
And Paul tells us, he said, as you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk with him. Walk with him. Walk with him. And I tell you, like his disciples
in Luke 24, they were expecting worldly kingdoms and they were
expecting a resurrection of Israel and earthly glory and palaces
and kingdoms and recognition and all these things. And when
they didn't come to pass, they walked along with their heads
down and sorrowful and confused and didn't know what was going
on. And the Lord came up to them and He said, O fools and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have written about
me. and beginning with Moses. That's
what we're talking about right now. He told them all these things
concerning himself. It says, Luke 24, verse 44, Then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
Scriptures. A body, this massive body coming up out of the infinite
sea and gathering around him like a priest's garment. All
the character of God. That priest in that old tabernacle,
he was dressed in linen, wasn't he? Fine linen. And here he stands,
and the whole character of God gathered in one place around
him like a garment, raised up in power and raised up in glory. Listen to Paul over in Hebrews
10. Maybe this will come alive to
you. He said, When I came into the world, He said, I didn't
talk about sacrifice and offerings. That wasn't what my appearance
was all about. But a body, he said, hast thou prepared me.
A body. Think about it. What kind of
a body? A body determined by the sovereign
will of God and testified in the volume of the book that I
came, I was created, I was formed for this one purpose, to do thy
will, O God. And by the witch will we are
sanctified forever. out of which we are. And by that
one offering, by that one sacrifice of that body, we're perfected
forever. And I want you to notice some
things about that body. It didn't just float on the surface.
It wasn't like some of these, you know, we'll have a hurricane
or a cyclone or something will go out across the ocean and it
will break off parts of those islands where those plants and
some of those small things that grow up about this high, it will
break them off and they virtually feed from the water. They grow
up right out of the water. And these things will come out
and they'll appear like a piece of land, but when you come up
to them, they're not. They're just floating plants
is all they are. Well, when God pulled this body
up out of that water, it didn't just float on the surface. Its
feet went all the way down as far into God as God was. Peter likened these waters. He
said, here is what these ignorant men talk about. He said, they
are totally ignorant of this, that the earth that was then
was standing in the waters and out of the waters. It was one
with the waters. The waters could not come beyond
God's command. It was one with God. And surely
this dry land is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then God named. He allowed Adam to name the animals
and some of the plants, but God named night and day. He said He called the light day
and the darkness night. And He named this dry land and
He named the seas, the waters. And He called the dry land earth. And I looked that up just to
see what it meant, just to see the basic meaning of it. I looked
it up in my Strong's Concordance. And it means firm. That's what
it means. That's why we call it a firmament.
It's a firm place. We sing that hymn, How Firm a
Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord. It's a firm place. And
then the seas, and this really, I was telling them last night,
this really took me by surprise. The sea means roar. That's what it means. And I looked
at that and thought, what in the world? I'd sit and think
about that for a while. And then I went back and I looked
at it again and it says, Roar as the waves break against the
rock. And then I began to understand
what he was saying. All around this body is the angry sea. And the waves come in and they
threaten judgment. And they threaten vengeance. wrath, but they break on the
rock, and they fall satisfied back into the sea. In Job chapter 38, the old prophet
had kind of went over his bounds. Now, he was just in what he said
to his friends. The Lord said that about him.
But if you read carefully through the book of Job, you'll find
where Job went a little overboard. In trying to defend himself,
he went overboard, and he began to plead his own integrity. Don't
ever do that. Our righteousness is all together
in Christ. Our hope is all together in God.
If we have a good work, it is God that worketh in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. And Job went a little
overboard. And God says to his faithful
servant, he said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel? without
knowledge. Who is that? Who are you? Who
do you think you are? Verse 3, chapter 38, "'Gird up
now thy loins like a man, for I demand of thee, and answer
thou me. Where was thou when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.
Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? Or who hath
stretched a line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations
fashioned? Who has laid the cornerstone
thereof? And we all know who the cornerstone is, it's Christ.
When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted
for joy. When did they do that? When God
laid that cornerstone. Or who shut up the sea with doors
when it broke forth as if it issued out of the womb? When
I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness as
a swaddling band for it, and broke up for it my decreed place. Huh? Why are those waters gathered
around him and this earth sticking out of the water? How come it
is? Because God break up in him a place for those waters to be
gathered and reside from off the top of him. And listen, he
said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall
thy proud ways be stayed. Not coming any further. Not going
to come any further. raised by the commandment of
God and around which the waters of God were gathered into one
place. And in the midst of that place,
a place of safety and peace, a place where man could walk
and talk and fellowship with God in Christ. That's what Paul
said. Stay right there. Don't go no
further. Don't go off and dive into this. This self-righteous
legalism that the Jews are coming around trying to sell you. Tell
them to sell it to somebody else. You stay right in Christ. Stay
right there. Don't go any further. Because
in Him you are complete. Then on the fourth day, God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament. Remember what the firmament is?
That is the grace of God. That is the grace of God. And
He said, Let there be lights in the firmament. Lights everywhere
in all places. Lights to divide the day from
the night. Lights to rule the day and rule
the night. Lights for signs and for seasons
and for days and for years. And all these lights, lesser
or greater, all these lights, distant or near, direct light,
those things which had light in themselves shining down, or
reflected light like the moon. All light is to give light, he
said. upon this body he calls earth. Ain't that what it says? He says
it twice. He says it once in verse 15 of
Genesis 1 and repeats it again in verse 17. I tell you, everything God has
purposed to glorify himself in this redemption
of chosen sinners by Jesus Christ That is what this book is about.
It is what creation is about. And God opens your heart and
you can begin to see it. And then when God in his sovereign
grace and by his firm decree commanded these lights to be,
the clock began to tick. They should be for times. Isn't
that what he said? There wasn't any time up to that point. Now
the clock ticks. But God doesn't leave you without
a light. He fills His firmament. I mean fills it. Go out in the
Yucatan down in Mexico where there's no emissions and things
to cloud the skies. Walk out in that Yucatan night
in the clarity of it and gaze up at the heaven. There's five
times more stars in that sky than what you can see in the
United States. I've never seen anything like it. It's filled
with light. Filled with witness. Paul said
we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. God didn't
leave you without light. If you walk in darkness, it's
not because God didn't leave light. He left light in the night. He gave light in the day. He
gave light in the firmament. He gave light everywhere. They
tell me they go back into caves and there are insects back there
that God has created that generate their own light back in the utter
darkness. There is nowhere on this earth
where God has not gave the witness of this light. And all this light
is but a reflection of that light. It is just a picture of that
light. And when that light of the sun,
which is a picture of Christ, when it comes up, all these other
lights, you can't even see them. They are still there, but you
can't see them in that light. And he sets these lights in the
firmament. and their witnesses, their evidences. And they are
for times. They are for times. All throughout time, through
these lights and this firmament, God has, by His grace, given
witness of this light. And by this firmament of grace
wherein these lights are, He redeemed a people. Now, think
about this. He redeemed a people beginning
with Adam. and Abel and Noah and Enoch and
all throughout the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
all the patriarchs, David, Isaiah, Moses, just go on and on and
on with these old saints, these old patriarchs in the Old Testament.
God redeemed them, gave them witness, gave them light that
He said in the firmament by His grace. He gave them witness of
Christ that would come. And by that light, they walked
with God. They were justified. They were
reconciled. They were regenerated. Read John
chapter 1. When it says, "...he came unto
his own, and his own received him not, but to as many as received
him." He is not talking about after the coming of the Son of
God. He is talking about before. Because it is on down before
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He is talking about
Old Testament saints. But to as many as received him,
to them gave he the gift which were born, not of blood, not
of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh, but of God."
Old Testament saint. And he reconciled them. He gave
them faith. He talks there in Romans about
that faith he gave to Abraham. And he said it wasn't just written
for Abraham's sake, but for us too. But all throughout that
Old Testament, listen to this, Romans 3, verse 24, being justified
truly by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. And here is what these lights
are all about. Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation, a
clearing of his name and a clearing of all debts attached to it through
faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remissions
of sins that are past. through the forbearance of God,
all by grace. God so trusted His Son, you can
read about it over in Ephesians chapter 1, where He talks about
God who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will,
by whom we have received this adoption, who first trusted in
Christ. He is not talking about you.
He is talking about Him. He first trusted in Christ. And
he so trusted in his Son. He was so confident that his
Son could accomplish this work and manifest this glory that
thousands of years before he ever appeared as a man on this
earth, he redeemed sinners and set forth Christ by testimony,
by light in his firmament. He set him forth. And these Old
Testament saints believed on him and clung to him, and God
saved them. And he said to declare at this
time that God might be just and justifier. All lights are from
that one light, which is an eternal light of God, and all lights
in time or eternity are ordained of God to shine on him. Paul
said, If our gospel be hid, it is hid to the lost, in whom the
God of this world hath blinded their minds, lest that glorious
light of the gospel of Christ should shine. under them. Lights. God didn't leave us without lights,
knowing that we were going to fall. He set lights. He set them
everywhere. He set them in the firmament.
He set them in the sun. Even when the earth turns around
into darkness, He gave us a moon that reflects the light of the
sun. There's light everywhere. There's just light everywhere.
We don't have any excuse. There's like the light of God
in creation and the light of God. He said, I put light in
you, in your conscience. All these things, and we're without
excuse. It's head to the lost. But oh,
God decreed that not all men are going to be lost, didn't
He? Some of them are going to see the light. Some of them are
going to be drawn to the light. Oh, God gave us a heart to let
our light, that light that He's put in us. John said, let your
light so shine that men may see your good works. And boy, they're
not a believer alive who don't stop right there and say, what
good works? You remember how the Lord told
His disciples? He said, as often as you've done these things and
you've given so much as a drink to this one and so on, and they
said, when we do that? When we do that? God does those
things in us. In us. And that's His light. And what he tells us to do is
let that light shine. Let that light shine that men
might see your good works. Works of grace. Works of this
gospel. Works of declaring this light.
Works of being a witness just like those stars that he set
in the firmament. Let men see that light. And I'll tell you
what they're going to do when they see it. They're going to
glorify your Father which is in heaven. They're not going
to glorify you. They're going to glorify Him. Oh, God give
us heart to let our light shine that he might be glorified in
all things.